


Loki & The Shifting Nature Of Part-Time Work

by projectliteracy



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Communication Is Currently Under Maintainence, Eventual Loki/Tony Stark, FrostIron - Freeform, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Not Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two Compliant, Spite As Motivation, Thor (Marvel) is Not Stupid, Trouble-Makers Up To No Good (But Doing Good As A Consequence), loki is a little shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 08:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13807167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/projectliteracy/pseuds/projectliteracy
Summary: Just because Loki grew up a prince and is currently exiled to the swankiest tower in Midgard to repent for his sins, does not mean that he intends to keep things the way they were. When you hit rock bottom, the only way is up (even if the crawl up is painfully slow)(Not compliant past Avengers 2012/MCU Phase 1)





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello Hello. I make my return to writing with an obsession with smart mouths who crave attention.  
> I swear the tone of this fic will get more humourous as time goes by, it just starts out a bit down because life sometimes throws you into a pit of half-squeezed lemons while you have open wounds and it fucking hurts alright? BUT I'm a firm believer in using spite as motivation. It's magic that will propel you forward until you realise that you're good enough on your own and fuck those who brought you down in the first place. To get there though, channel the spite and revel in all its glory.  
> 

Loki buried himself further into the mattress, pulling the duvet tighter around him as if it would help him hide from the world. He curled into ball and continued his musings.

He was not having a good couple of decades, what between the initial boredom of life being too comfortable to the sudden discovery of certain family secrets, and all-round feelings of being deceived. This was not cool, not at all. It should be the other way around, for goodness sake, he was the God of lies and mischief. Then of course, he just had to make a spur of the moment emotional decision to let go of the bloody Bifrost that led to him being tortured, used as a puppet leader, and eventually brought down and captured by his brother’s new best buddies in this pitiful realm. To top it all off, they had muzzled him like some common dog, and returned him back to Asgard, all tied up like a present. His ‘father’ dearest then had the great idea to give him a punishment equal to Thor- being sent to a different realm in order to develop an understanding and appreciation of the culture, thereby humbling himself. The one time he finally manages to be seen as Thor’s equal in the eyes of his ‘father’ and it’s being punished in the same mundane way. This was how Loki found himself back on Midgard, the only silver lining being that though they had tried to take his magic away from him, they couldn’t completely do so for fear of removing his very essence. Instead, it was just very heavily dampened; so much so that all Loki could really do was produce small holograms, summon smaller items, and thankfully, shapeshift. It was all just a huge drag and not fair. At all. Oh well, what was one to do when all the choices were made for you. There was absolutely no point as well to having put him here since most of the Avengers wanted nothing to do with him and he was labelled by SHIELD as too unstable to be let out yet, so he was given no freedom of movement. At least he was placed in relative comfort on the common floor of StarkTower under the watchful eye of the Avengers. What a stupid name for a group of people who just followed orders of two men with only one eye. Fate sure had a sense of humo-. A knock startled him out of his musings and Loki grumbled loudly.

“Brother, I must insist that you come out of your room and at least have some meals with us.” Thor said, muffled behind the heavy door.

“I am not your brother. And I am not hungry. Leave me alone.”

“Broth- Loki, you need to leave your room. The sooner you interact with people, the sooner you may learn, and your punishment will end!”

Supposing that the big oaf did have somewhat of a relevant point, Loki grudgingly got out of bed and tied his long hair in a messy bun. He didn’t give a fuck anymore. What was the point of seeming powerful and put together in front of a group of people that had quite literally stomped him into the ground? He if nothing, knew when he was beaten. Plus, he was just so completely drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. He opened the door with some trepidation and Thor oblivious to his discomfort, swung an arm around his shoulder to lead him to the table where only half the gang was. It had been 3 days since the brothers return to StarkTower and it was clear that the Avengers had not been entirely comfortable with the idea of a crazed god residing in the tower. Odin must have threatened either diplomatic ties or knowledge to get his way. The archer had only appeared once when he first arrived, the man the hulk resided in always left the room whenever he entered (thankfully) while the others just grimaced and bore the discomfort as best they could.

“Hey, green eggs and ham,” Loki looked up incredulously at Stark. How he managed worse and worse nicknames each time was honestly a mystery. That man didn’t fear him much, probably since he knew his metal heart was impervious to all magic. Maybe because Loki looked like (was) a disaster currently too. “You need to leave your room more often. I have cleaning and maintenance services coming in and they can’t do anything if you’re in there. The common floors are quite vast. As long as you don’t break anything, you’re free to enter those areas. Just ask Jarvis if you need to know how some technology works or something.”

Loki nodded and sat at the far end of the table next to Thor. The table fell into uneasy silence at his presence. The good captain attempted to start some conversation for his benefit about getting used to modern day life which led to a Thor asking ridiculous questions on things he hadn’t yet caught up on in all the time he’d been here. In the end, Stark told his AI to compile a list of cultural ‘introductions’ to the world and have them ready for perusal in the media room.

Later that day, having nothing better to do, Loki found himself aimlessly walking around the common floors. He chanced upon the media room and recalled the conversation at breakfast time. He supposed that if he wanted to avoid people at all costs but slowly work towards his freedom, it couldn’t be too bad to just sit down and absorb some information- learning was one of the things he had always enjoyed in his life anyways. He entered the room to find it comfortably arranged, with lounge sofas in front of a massive television, and a sizeable shelf filled with books and technology in the middle of the room that acted as a pseudo wall to hide numerous beanbags and cushions. He stood right where he was, trying to decide what to do when Jarvis spoke up from the ceiling.

“Sir Odinson, if you would like to take one of the StarkPads from the shelf, I would be happy to load some videos to get you acquainted with this world.”

“Don’t call me that. Just, anything but that.” Loki snapped immediately, unable to control his reaction to that word. Look at him, angry at a machine. What had become of him indeed?

“My apologies. Would Sir Laufeyson be preferable then”

With a resigned sigh, Loki quickly made up his mind and answered, “No, just Loki will do.”

“Very well Sir Loki. Do go ahead and pick up the StarkPad that I’ve just activated.” 

Grabbing the device, he plopped himself down and started to scope out the different pieces of text. There was a plethora of information that had been collected so he had plenty of choice as to where to begin. Leaning back into the beanbag, he let himself be consumed by the literary world.

Over the next week, Loki fell into somewhat of a routine (rut). He would force himself out of bed, wash up with the barest minimum of effort, then catch the tail end of breakfast before lounging around in the media room the rest of the day. Between the televisions, radios, and e-library available in the room, he had enough material to waste away the time, almost completely hidden in a small beanbag right at the corner of the room. He would only leave for dinner at the end of the day before retiring to his room. This cycle repeated itself for the next two weeks. Loki had no complaints of this lifestyle since it harkened back to the quieter times in his childhood where he used to spend all day with his nose buried in books in the library. It was however, quite fortunate that he was forced to spend some time with the other occupants of the tower during his meals. While he may not exactly enjoy their company, nor them his, it was good for his mind to interact with others. Unfortunately, he noticed that as the weeks went by, that the attendance at meal times was dropping steadily thanks his set routine allowing others to avoid him easily. By the time he had been there for 3 weeks, the only people he was having meals with was a rotation of Thor, the Captain and Stark. The mad inventor was the most bearable out of all the company if Loki was honest with himself. He was forward with his thoughts and insolent enough to poke fun at Loki, making him forget for a while that everyone was tiptoeing around him. Thor and the Captain on the other hand, clearly had good intentions when they tried to interact with him but this only vexed him more.

It was precisely this reason that made the last couple of days’ pure torture since for some reason, Stark seemed to have disappeared completely. It was after 4 days of no contact other than with Thor and the Captain that Loki snapped. The two, having also benefited from the ‘new world initiation’ in the media room, had been droning on and on about how hard it was to get used to this new world and its new culture and technology and fruit as well as sharing ideas with each other on how to better integrate with modern lifestyle. It wasn’t terrible, but the complaining and ideas were really getting on Loki’s pragmatic nerves especially since it was all so idealistic. For the first time in a while, he bothered to enter the conversation.

“Instead of complaining, why don’t you actually just put yourself out there and learn about things by experiencing it. What are you going to do? Just live in the past and only learn about the future in theory?”

“Brother, don’t be foolish. This is the best that the Captain and I can do since we are easily recognizable and will be expected to hold a higher standard of behavior in front of the public. There would be fewer chances for us to make mistakes. It would be easy for you with your shifting abilities to escape the pressures of public appearances as you did many a times back home” Thor replied unthinkingly.

“Escape? Nobody paid any attention to me only because they were all focused on you. And at least you have the chance to even leave and explore this new realm instead of being trapped in a glorified jail,” he snapped to defend his position. 

Loki with no warning, stood up and jumped on the table to stare them down. Normally, it would simply have been rude but in his anger, Loki’s magic somehow took over, shape shifting him into the same form but much heavier such that when he landed on the table, it split and folded down its middle, all the items slipping onto the floor in a mess. He managed to catch himself on his feet and glared at the other two who had frozen in shock. They all simply stared at each other, unable to break the thrall of surprise. Then, the door slammed opened and the two spies entered, immediately pointing their respective weapons at Loki.

“What the actual fuck do you think you can pull off in the tower? Give me any reason to put this arrow through you and I won’t hesitate bitch,” the archer snarled.

“Hawkeye, calm down. It was just a brotherly quarrel gone a bit far” the Captain explained, trying to de-escalate the situation. “Loki, it might be a good idea to return to your room while we take care of this.”

Loki felt a wave of anger swell up again but thankfully some small rational part of his brain recognized that he was being given an easy way out, so he took it. He stalked back to his room, slammed the door and stood fuming. He took a few breaths before the anger and frustration consumed him and he broke. Grabbing anything he could possibly wrestle into submission, he threw it around, he dragged the chairs and tables in his room and just tried to expend as much nervous energy as he could in a violent burst. After a while of that, he collapsed onto the floor. Pulling his legs up towards himself, he curled himself into a small ball and just sat there breathing. Without meaning to, tears started flowing down his cheeks silently as he finally gave into the Pandora’s box of emotions that he had not acknowledged since the fall into the void. He sat there crying and mumbling to himself, not aware of time passing as he just let it out. It was only when he came to his senses a while later that he realized it had been hours since the incident. But it was too bothersome to think about having any more meals when he was so bone dead tired, so he simply rearranged his bed to the best of his abilities and fell into slumber. The next morning, Loki was awoken by the lights in his room slowly getting brighter.

“Sir Loki, pardon my interruption of your rest. Mr. Stark has extended a special invitation for you to dine with him in his lab for breakfast. If you would please make your way into the elevator on the far side of the common floor in exactly 15 minutes, I will send you straight to the lab.” Jarvis announced.

Loki looked up startled. While he knew the AI was around, it hadn’t occurred to him that it was also present in the private rooms. He froze in bed, looking around the mess of the room. What if Stark wanted him down there to chew him out about destroying his property. Loki knew that he would normally be able to brush it off, but his wounds were all open and stinging. He would hate to breakdown again in front of Stark.

“Sir Loki? Is anything the matter? Shall I tell Mr. Stark that you accept his invitation or not?”

Might as well face the music Loki supposed, “No, it’s fine. I’ll have breakfast with him.”

Making his way down to the lab, he gave himself a pep talk, schooling his thoughts towards safer subjects in preparation for Stark giving him a hard time. To his surprise though, when he entered the lab, the other man looked up from his station and gave him a smile that while tentative, was also clearly genuine.

“Morning,” Stark nodded at him, “It’s not a complete breakfast but a couple of muffins and a hot drink is better than having to deal with awkwardness at the breakfast table eh?”

“Y-You saw what happened yesterday? …But you weren’t there?” Loki asked for confirmation sheepishly.

“I was squirrelled away in my lab obsessed with working the kinks out of a project. But Jarvis has surveillance over all the tower, barring the washrooms of course. The private rooms are also monitored but no one checks the footage unless J detects suspicious activity and alerts me. So yeah, I caught the violent breakdown yesterday.”

“Oh. I- I um...” Loki uncharacteristically mumbled, caught at Stark’s frankness.

“Don’t sweat it. I’m not terribly angry about the broken breakfast table and room furnishings. An apology would be nice but to be honest, I probably should have made more superpower proof furniture seeing as I have people running around the tower with weapons and super strength and control of natural phenomenon. Figured the least I could do was to prevent any more damage and supposed that you could use a break from those goody-two-shoes up there. Judging from those dark circles and the incredulous look on your face, I was right.” He explained as he walked towards the muffins, grabbed one and motioned to Loki to join him.

Loki bristled and strode forward, “Did you seriously just insult me? I will have you know that I-,” He was forced to stop halfway as Stark shoved a muffin into his mouth. 

“Chill out,” Stark interrupted, chuckling. “I was just trying to get you back to the little shit that you are. Now, if you’re smart, and I know that you are, I’ve got a proposition for you that will be beneficial for both of us.”

“Alright…go on then,” Loki asked suspiciously, continuing to eat the muffin. It was a surprisingly tasty salted dark chocolate one that was a comfort after yesterday’s turmoil. This and the fact that he had called him to speak away from the crowd above showed that Stark was more perceptive that people gave him credit for. Their initial interaction during the Chitauri attack had already been pretty interesting and Loki would be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued by the inventor.

“So, after your outburst yesterday, I realized that the only way you could have broken the table by jumping on it would have been to shift your weight while keeping your form? Then I checked what knowledge we ‘puny mortals’ have on you and shapeshifting seems to be somewhat of a trend. If that’s true, I would love to have you working in my lab while I test different materials for load bearing capabilities and structures. Got to get on my game if I need to refurnish this entire tower in super-proof items, right?”

“You want me to be a… lab assistant?”

“Pretty much. I promise to not examine your abilities unless you allow me to although let’s be real, it’s killing me to even say that. You can bippity boppity boo in safety and I figure magic is close enough to science that we can work together. I know you’re almost out of new material in the media room and I recognize when someone is intellectual enough that boredom gets dangerous. Plus, it’ll give you the opportunity to work towards understanding this world better and if things go well, I can vouch that you’re a bit saner and maybe SHIELD will allow you to exit the tower to explore under supervision.”

“What do you stand to gain from it though? Surely you have resources to test different weights yourself. Why are you doing this?”

“Wow. You’ve got it bad huh. I’m going to tell you something that I don’t often share but I’ll make an exception since I think you understand. Growing up, I was constantly living under the shadow of either Captain America who was the friend my father lost, or the genius child my father expected me to be. I had everything I could possibly want- toys, money, intellect. All except for the attention of those I cared about. I worked hard and got many accomplishments to be noticed but they never cared. People started paying attention but only when they wanted something out of me. So, I threw tantrums, acted out and threw myself into getting better. I still don’t know if I’m motivated by spite or fear but whatever gets me to where I need to be is good enough. Thankfully, I have a couple of good friends now, but the loneliness still haunts me at night. I recognize you wanting to prove yourself to be better than Thor the same way I wanted to prove I was better than Captain America. So, don’t even deny it and humour my request?

Loki stared at the other man. He was most definitely getting tired at constantly being startled by Stark. But he had pretty much hit the nail on the head about Loki’s issues. He hated the fact that Stark was right and that he pitied him enough to have to offer him a way out but even though Loki was proud, he was smart enough to know that he had been in a rut for quite a while and it was a good opportunity to get back to himself. In addition, what Stark said about spite being a motivation was extremely appealing. He had so much negative emotion inside of himself right now and it was dragging him down so if he could channel it towards a goal, it would help his mental state. Perhaps it really was time to take a chance.

“I think I might have to take you up on that offer.” He conceded with a small grateful smile.

Tony, who had been drinking some coffee while waiting for Loki to think the offer through, looked up and flashed a brilliant smile. “Wonderful. Well, I’ll be finished with my current project by the end of today, so we’ll get started on the new project the day after tomorrow. I’ll let Jarvis know when you should come down. Here, take this StarkPad, it has basic physics concepts loaded on it already so if you could just look at it in case you don’t already know these things, we can be on the same page when we start.”

“Alright”

“Yup. Oh, and you may want to skip dinner today because I’ll let the other avengers know that we’re doing this so I’ll leave a tray of food outside of your room instead. Cool. Glad that went okay.” Stark continued, picking up and shoving the tray into Loki’s hands, still half full of food. “Jarvis, if you would please show Loki back up to the common floor? I need to get back to my project,” he swiftly concluded the conversation, turning back to his station.

Loki, taking the cue, entered the elevator and walked back to his room. He sat down on his bed and stared at the StarkPad. He appreciated the offered hand of help and it did indeed sound like a good way of working to his freedom. Most of all, the idea that he could use his spite to drive himself to new growth and prove his worth to all those who had doubted or underestimated him sounded as good as one of Idunn’s apples. Just the thought of it already lifted a burden off his chest and Loki felt like he could breathe again. It looked like it was time to properly get his life together and be unpredictable again. Who would expect him to actually take up this offer, or even work under the instruction of those he deemed below him? No one. No one at all would expect this. To do so would be the biggest middle finger and with that, it was decided. Loki smiled mischievously as he lay back on the bed, making himself comfortable and bringing up the StarkPad to get acquainted with physics concepts. He did have a plan to see through to the end this time after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Whoop, you made it to the end. Don't worry, Thor and Cap are good, smart people, but that will only show much later since this is in Loki's POV...
> 
> PLEASE let me know if there are mistakes (grammatical or character backgrounds) and of course,  
> Leave a comment to get nice lemon recipes.
> 
> [Minor edits for consistency]


	2. First Days in a New Life/Life is a Daze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So…the day before the first day of work took a life of its own, but I suppose it does advance some character development so I’ll find a way to deal. You ever have those days where you want so badly to change, that you muster up enough courage to just do it, then find yourself flagging half-way through, completely overwhelmed, because JFC it takes so much bloody energy to completely turn everything around. But then you take yourself out of your room and into a new area and it just psychologically changes everything and gives you energy for smaller, more consistent steps???!! MAGIC!

Loki arose uncomfortably the next day. He had got so engrossed in the text that he had fallen asleep, tossed and turned, and somehow ended up on top of the StarkPad which was currently digging into his ribs under him. Groaning, he sat up, rubbed his face, and got out of bed. Today would be the start of a new life - it was time to shock himself out of the rut he was in. He would prove them all wrong about him damn it, if it was the last thing he would do.

First things first though, it was time to get his game face on. It had been too long that he had allowed himself some pampering. The past month had been full of not giving a fuck and it had clearly taken its toll on his looks if the image in the bathroom mirror could really be believed. He could, of course, always shift the dark circles, pallid colour, and greasy, knotted hair away, but he would still know the difference. So, he got into the shower, turned the water to as hot as he could stand it, and stood under the unrelenting beating of water as it washed his tiredness away. Musing to himself, he realized it was quite ironic that before he knew of his true nature, his magic had still seemed to sense it as he was always cold and had had to seek warmth in linens, duvets, or baths. Now that he was aware however, his magic had stopped fighting the cold, instead recognizing it as his nature, and had made him more tolerant of a wider spectrum of temperature. He had to hand it to Life, it was truly a worthy opponent of the God of Mischief. Shaking away his thoughts, he turned to the shelf next to him to inspect the row of toiletries. He had been using the same unscented soap that he had randomly picked when he first arrived but choosing a new soap felt like a small step towards new growth so he picked up an orange bottle that smelt fruity. Lathering himself generously with it, he then chose a conditioning shampoo to work out the knots in his hair. After washing it all off and towelling himself dry, Loki dressed himself in Asgardian slacks, and steeled himself for the upcoming interactions during breakfast. Taking some deep breaths, he reminded himself to fake it until he made it, and finally stepped out, ready to face the day.

The breakfast table (clearly new though similar to the one he had broken) was surprisingly full with more food and Avengers than Loki was expecting. The three usual suspects were seated at the table, already tucking in to their meal when Thor noticed his arrival.

“Loki! You’re back to yourself! How well you look! I am truly glad to see you feeling better again,” Thor exclaimed with a bright smile. At this, the others looked up too.

“Good morning, please, join us for breakfast,” the Captain invited. “We’re sorry about yesterday, we should have been more sensitive.”

“Indeed Loki, I am sincerely sorry if I caused you hurt by not thinking before I spoke. Clearly I still have much to learn in the art of diplomacy. But I am overjoyed that you have accepted Tony’s proposal. I trust that together you will work on gaining the trust of both Father and Director Fury to end your exile.”

It was rather infuriating to just be given apologies so easily as if that would fix everything but he had to admit that he had also been in the wrong so moving on and being diplomatic would be the best way forward for now. New life, new him. Loki grit his teeth and nodded, he was going to have to repeat that as a mantra for the following days if he was to have any success in controlling his temper.

At that, Stark quickly cut in, “Alright alright, why don’t you sit down and have breakfast now,” motioning to an empty seat.

Loki took it, leaning close to Stark as he tucked his chair into the table. The other man startled and stared at him with wide eyes. “Is-is that passionfruit soap? Oh fuck me. I’m 100% sure that that’s Pepper’s. Man, I totally just chucked you in a random room when you first came because I was so preoccupied with updating the security codes. So I think you’re using the ‘overtime’ room she used to stay in…” Before Loki could say anything, Stark continued, “Goddamnit I forgot to tell her about our deal. Oh she is going to kill me...,” he said while slapping his forehead.

“Did I do something wrong…?” Loki looked around confused as to what exactly was happening. It was so embarrassing that the first time he tried to put in some effort, things went south...

“No, Brother Tony has simply forgot to update his Lady Pepper about the latest happenings. The fragrant soap just reminded him,” Thor helpfully explained. He nudged the bread bowl at Loki to prompt him to start eating.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Stark reassured himself more than anyone around him. “I’ve kept her quite updated about everything since she was pretty pissed at me for the nuclear wormhole thing. That’s why she hasn’t been around, we agreed it might be safer for her to not to be in the Avengers Tower for a while.” 

“Is this not the Stark Tower?” Loki couldn’t really recall much from his last time here except for him stabbing his brother (as usual), waking from a daze to a view of all the Avengers, and his sceptre failing due to Stark’s metal heart.

“It was remodelled as the Avengers Tower with more specialised rooms for each of us. I think renovations are still in progress but Tony took very prompt action the moment things quieted down and got the top floors done first,” the Captain explained.

“It’s my way of dealing. Throw myself into a project and I don’t have to actively think about what happened,” Stark shrugged truthfully.

“But back to the point, you forgot to tell Ms. Potts about how you’re going to be working with Loki in the lab? Now, now Tony, that’s not a proper way to treat a lady,” the Captain chided teasingly.

“Yeah shut it Mr Rogers, I’ll speak to her after breakfast. Explain how this will help with producing stronger materials that are ‘super’-proof. And it’s not too dangerous since Loki’s magic is dampened,” he concluded, with a sheepish smile at Loki as if apologising for reminding him that he wasn’t quite free.

Suddenly, Thor slammed his palm down onto the table, exclaiming “How could I have forgotten about the magic?!” Turning to the other avengers, he explained, “You see, Loki has often broken furniture back home during his outbursts, but fixed it easily enough with magic. It slipped my mind that he could not do so here. Please do accept my apologies and help in disposing of the material Brother Tony.”

“Ah, that slipped my mind too. Nah, it’s cool. I think it’ll be good to use all that material for scrap testing in the lab. I’ll get some workers to move it down later”

“Or we could help you Tony. Between Thor and I, carrying the weight to the lab will be no problem at all. It will be the least we could do at having triggered this whole thing in the first place,” offered the Captain.

“Count on Loki’s help too! His strength is often underestimated but he is capable of lifting much above than what you would expect of his size,” Thor added, clapping Loki proudly on his back causing him to choke slightly on the bread he had been eating. He glared at the Aesir and considered talking back but ‘new life, new him’ right?

Stark agreed with the idea and it was decided that the group would move the items in the afternoon. At the moment however, they still had to finish their breakfast. The conversation shifted to explain how Stark had informed the team of their deal last night. Loki learnt how the other Avengers had felt conflicted about Loki’s security clearance being upped, and that the two spies had decided to move out for a period of time until they felt more comfortable to move back in again. The other scientist had been fine with Loki but wasn’t sure that he would be able to control his temper, so while he remained in the tower, he would stay on his dedicated floor, not visiting the common floors or anywhere else Loki may be. Loki was perfectly fine with all this - the archer constantly reminded him of the fact that he had been controlled too, the Russian he admired but recognised as dangerous, and the Hulk…well, no explanation necessary. His muscles ached with a phantom pain any time he even thought about the green beast even though he had been very thoroughly healed from all after-effects of torture back in Asgard. Of those who had remained, the Captain seemed similar enough to Thor so Loki was fine, and Stark was unpredictable which was interesting. In the end, he would be comfortable to interact with all those remaining and he had been given the chance to work towards his freedom. The situation was much better than expected and for that, Loki was grateful.

Breakfast ended amicably, and everyone split – Stark to call his lady, Thor who had a workout in the gym, the Captain who had decided to venture out alone to meet the spies in a nearby park, and Loki who returned to his room. Sitting on the bed again, since most of the other furniture was in a sorry state thanks to his violent outburst, he sagged. Things had been going well but it was a bit of a shock to the system after having had almost a full month of little proper interaction. Looking at the clock, Loki realised it had only been three hours since he had awoken. Were three hours really all he could take before his energy ran out? That was pathetic. No. New life, new him. He needed to be kinder to himself. He would just take a short break and then continue pushing through. The morning had been a success and he hadn’t even lost control. Determination coursed through his veins and he settled down to catch up on physics concepts.

At first glance, physics had seemed rather familiar, but when Loki tried to gain even a slightly deeper understanding, it had started becoming confusing. How could he explain… it was as if he intuitively knew these things since his magic had to comply or work around the laws of the realm, yet he couldn’t tell you exactly how it did work. In other words, he could see a problem, fix it with his innate magic but wouldn’t be able to discuss neither the theory nor the calculations surrounding it. It was definitely frustrating but there was a reason he was God of Stories rather than God of Calculations. Groaning, Loki gave up and fell back on the bed. Anyways, he was simply assisting Stark in the lab, he wasn’t the one doing all the calculations. If he was unsure of anything, he’d get the inventor to explain verbally. Instead, he threw up some simple holograms into the air to make his plan more concrete. The very act of writing or drawing anything down always lent magic and power to an idea and Loki was too used to grounding his ideas this way that even with dampened magic, it made the plan more concrete in his mind. Before he knew it, afternoon had rolled around, and a few knocks on his door brought him back to reality. Waving the holograms away, he got up and opened the door to find the men waiting.

“I’d forgotten what these rooms looked like…,” Tony pursed his lips as he surveyed the room. He walked around for a bit with a frown on his face. “You know what? After we move the broken stuff into the lab, maybe we should move your things to a new room. This room was only designed as a necessity in case any visiting agents had to stay the night. I couldn’t in my good conscience make you stay here any longer when there are higher quality rooms available. Maybe we can move you into one of the rooms on Thor’s floor, I would need extra help in obtaining readings there because this big ass lightning bug is currently giving my electronics a hard time.”

“That’s a brilliant idea Tony, I think it has much more open space and floor-to-ceiling windows so it’ll help you feel less constricted in the tower,” the Captain beamed at Loki. “I know I felt like I needed space to breathe when I first came back.”

Loki hesitated, he didn’t exactly want to move in with Thor, but they would be in separate rooms, he would get to move out of this room - which being the first room he was in, felt the most like a prison, and he had already been extended many olive branches that he wasn’t going to ruin a good thing when he had it. Plus, moving into Thor’s floor? Super unexpected of him to do. New life, new him right? He nodded and conveyed his agreement.

Between the four of them (well, more like three of them with Stark shouting instructions), they were able to carry all the required items up to the lab. Surprisingly, Thor and the Captain looked around in awe, apparently not having seen the lab before. Realising this, Stark began to give all of them a tour.

“Well, this is where the magic happens gentlemen. Well, some of it at least. This lab we’re in right now is the open lab, aka the shared lab for use of anyone who has at least a doctorate, or anyone under the supervision of one, both cases subject to my approval obviously. It’s used for experiments as well as R&D so it has the capabilities to house high tech equipment that span various scientific disciplines. All this just for Avengers and friends, since all SI labs are separate on the lower half of this tower. On that side, we have Bruce’s private lab that also has elevator access to his room, and the hulk’s containment unit, both just one floor down. On the other side, is my private lab which has elevator access up to my penthouse and down to Pep’s studio, although that’s generally used more as a study, or home office nowadays.”

With that, the quick tour of the lab was over and they proceeded into the elevator to make their way back down to check out Thor’s floor. Coming out the elevator, they first encountered the gym and training centre. Once again, Stark was perceptive enough to realise that Loki would not be concerned with such things and continued straight down the hallway, passing by a couple of doors in favour of heading towards the largest set at the end.

“Most floors have at least 2 different people sharing except for this and Steve’s floor. This floor has a gym and fitness rooms that we just passed on that side. Steve shares his floor with a low-tech recreation centre,” Stark rambled as he walked towards a set of large doors. “Thor, want to do the honours of giving the tour of your room?” 

“Welcome, brethren, into my abode!” Thor exclaimed as he pushed the doors open to reveal an expansive room with simple yet ornate furnishings. “Brother Tony has most definitely been generous in sharing his home with us. But come brother, the best part is the shower- it feels like a waterfall!!”

Thor, in his excitement, grabbed Loki’s arm and pulled him towards the washroom. Loki tensed up, ignored being called brother, and followed him instead, curious how a shower could cause so much joy. Chuckling, the other two also entered the washroom and asked the AI to turn on the shower so that they may see it. Loki’s eyes widened as he took in the multiple jets of water that sprayed from all around the shower walls and actually walked forward to press his face against the shower glass so as to better see the inside. It looked like it would be a glorious shower and Loki let himself hope that perhaps the other rooms on this floor also had this.

“Come, come Loki, let me show you the balcony as well. It allows me to fly off with Mjolnir whenever I need,” Thor dragged him out to the balcony.

Loki shielded his eyes as he moved past the balcony doors, it was the first time since his exile here that he had actually been under the sun, or had had fresh air. He stood still, closed his eyes and simply let himself exist in the space. It was honestly therapeutic and he remained that way until the heat started to get to him. He opened his eyes to see Thor and Stark talking animatedly inside, and the Captain regarding him with a curious look in his eye. Clearing his throat to wash away the awkwardness, Loki complimented the view before re-entering Thor’s room.

The four then went around examining the other rooms on the floor so to allow Loki to take his pick. In the end, he chose the one furthest from Thor’s room with the excuse that it had a view of a far-off park. Although it did not have a balcony, the room had an ensuite with both a bathtub and that wonderful waterfall shower. It was a step-up and for that, Loki was grateful. They all returned to Loki’s first room to help him move his things down to his new room. Fortunately, Loki, though his nature was chaotic, always kept his belongings organised and clean, so it was easy enough to pack up quickly. Once the move was made, the others thankfully took their leave to give him privacy to set his things up. The moment they left though, Loki went to sit by the floor-to-ceiling windows to muse as he watched the busy city go by. He already felt filled with slightly more energy by being in a new room and having new experiences lined up for him the next day. New life, new him, new room, new job… He had the momentum going already, all he had to do was keep himself on this same path and things would get better.

Dinner time came along, and Thor knocked on his door so that both of them could make their way up to dinner. Loki really didn’t feel like interacting with everyone again but he forced himself up. And it was a good thing he did, since when he walked into the common dining area, he was sprinkled with confetti as the others smiled in glee.

“What’s going on??” Loki asked, looking around all confused. On one side, there were boxes of different pizzas, and on the other, a row of various desserts.

“We figured that it was about time we properly welcomed you to the tower, and congratulated you on the new job too,” the Captain explained.

“I also will take any excuse to throw a pizza party so voila,” Stark cut in. “And Thor told us you have a mean sweet tooth so...,” he motioned to all the desserts, bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Broth-,” Thor caught himself and started again, “Loki, I know all this isn’t easy for you and it isn’t going to fix everything instantly. But I would seek to use the time we have here on Midgard as a chance to mend our relationship if you would allow me to. I love you and want to see you well.”

Loki’s head and heart was in a turmoil. He had wanted to drive all his motivation through his pride and spite. But looking around, he saw the faces of people who genuinely wanted to give him a chance. Surely to just accept this would mean defeat? It was too easy. Yet, it was a step towards what he had always wanted- equal standing to his peers, acceptance, his brother’s attention. The thoughts kept swirling around his mind. Apparently he had been silent for too long because Stark spoke up.

“Earth to Loki. I think what Pikachu is trying to say is, we get this doesn’t change much, but it would make things easier for you. Not being constantly surrounded by antagonistic environments will give you space to recover. Anyways, it’s not like this makes all of us best buddies, it’s just a recognition that we all respect each other and will be civil at the least.”

Loki grudgingly supposed that Stark did have a good point. He could still hold on to the spite to drive him. He just had to give up a little of his pride, not that there was much of it left currently. New life, new him. He just had to remember that, and he would do whatever it takes to get to his end goal.

“Yes, I could do that,” Loki finally answered. He was rewarded with whoops of joy, a cup thrust in his hand, and a celebratory cheer. A smile found itself on his face without his knowing as he knocked his cup against the others, and joined the cheers, “To new beginnings!” It was time to enjoy the ride, and of course, the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> Part-time work starts proper in the next installment! Get ready for hilarious mistakes, burgeoning friendships, and brotherly bickering.
> 
> P.S. If you’re wondering why the resident genius is so absent-minded, what do you expect from a guy who hasn’t dealt with his trauma properly and avoids really thinking about it. He just throws himself into his ideas and deals with things later. NGL, I forgot about Pepper for a bit but I promise to treat her well (even if I’m leading her relationship to ruin). She’ll take care of herself, ain’t nothing gonna stop her now. I’m also totally going to phase the others in but all in due time.
> 
> Again, let me know if there are any mistakes, and leave a comment for recipes with fraise (French for strawberry).


	3. Put To The Test / Test Subject

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm so so so sorry about the delay. I'm ashamed to admit that life got the better of me and once things had settled much later, I had genuinely forgot about this until I was cleaning my computer and came across a half-finished draft. But things are more stable now and I do want to commit to writing so hopefully the next chapter will only take a month or two instead of 10... In the meantime, here's this chapter.

It was twilight, the indirect sunlight slowly chasing the night away, and giving a picturesque view of New York. It was a beautiful sight with cumulus clouds against a backdrop of red and orange bleeding into the early morning sky – the perfect, symbolic framing for an important day. Not that Loki would know since he was currently dead to the world. For all his supposed grace when he was awake, he was a different sort of sight to behold when unconscious. The sheets were wrapped around him in a mess from all the tossing and turning he had done overnight, and his hair was splayed across his face in a style that would have made Pollock jealous. The welcome celebration the previous night had been surprisingly enjoyable and time had flown by, in no small part due to the ridiculous variety of pizzas that Stark had gleefully stuffed into everyone under the guise of systematically deducing what flavours were enjoyed the best. Then the desserts, once tasted individually, had to be sampled again with various toppings ranging from sprinkles, to bacon whipped cream. When accused of tomfoolery, Stark had countered with the fact that Jarvis was recording down the results, thus making the entire night a legitimate scientific endeavour. At that point, Loki had burst into laughter even though his mouth was full of whipped cream, but he couldn’t be mad about this when the air was filled with successful mischief. That being said however, the excessive mixture of oil and sugar did not a restful night’s sleep make. And so, Loki slept through the beautiful sunrise, through the sun shining down on his face, and would have slept even further had he not set an alarm that had him startling awake.

After washing up, getting ready, and walking up to the common dining area, Loki found only the Captain at the table. Loki’s perception of him had been slightly upgraded last night when, after Stark’s point of the food challenge being legitimate, the Captain had turned the whole thing into a friendly (yet fierce) competition to see who could stomach the most ridiculous combinations. Perhaps he wasn’t so dull as Thor after all.

“Captain,” Loki nodded to greet him.

“Good morning,” he replied. “Please, Loki. Call me Steve, or Rogers. I’d rather not be the Captain at every waking moment.

If Loki supposed that he could ask everyone to not refer to him as Odinson, he could at least acquiesce to the Capt- Rogers’ request. “Rogers it is then.”

“So it’s just the two of us at breakfast today then? I know Tony is probably still in a food coma. Thor?”

“With that face of his, Thor very much needs his beauty rest,” Loki deadpanned. Cap- Rogers burst out laughing.  Yes, he wasn’t that bad at all…

Breakfast ended and it was finally time to report at the lab. Parting ways with the other man, Loki made his way to the shared lab, where he saw Stark swaying on his seat.

“Stark?” he enquired.

“Mhmm? Not yet. Coffee hasn’t hit. Shush. Sit,” Stark mumbled and roughly gestured at a stool. Supposing that there was no point in sitting around doing nothing, Loki instead walked toward the pile of broken furniture to inspect the damage he did. Now that he had had some proper rest for the past few days, as well as the weight of despondence having had been lifted slightly, his eyes widened in surprise as he took a real look at his handiwork – he had broken materials far more hardy than he had initially realised in his fit of rage and desperation. He knelt down to the floor to start sorting through the materials. Before he knew it, he had categorised most of the materials and placed them in separate piles, his magic having helped him innately differentiate them. Unfortunately, the fortunes just seemed to have it in for Loki because as he shuffled forward to reach for yet another broken piece, the jagged edge of a sorted metal piece caught the fabric of his casual tunic and ripped a neat line near his calf. Loki swore and rocked back to see the rip. Making sure he was seated down further away from all the broken pieces, he took a look at the rip and realised that it fortunately could be mended with some simple sewing, though that would have to be done at night, during his leisure time. But Loki, when he was in the mood to dress up, could not accept imperfections in his attire so he quickly washed a glamour over the rip, making it outwardly look like the fabric was intact.

“Whoa there Nellie,” Stark cried out at that moment. Loki jerked towards him in confusion. Stark had perked up much more than before and had apparently been watching him. “What in the world did you just do there? I thought you didn’t have your fixy-uppy part of your magic?”

“Ah, don’t worry,” Loki reassured the man. “I still don’t. This was just a glamour. I have my basic innate magic within me so I can manipulate myself and my ‘image’ per se.”

“Yourself… _and_ your image? As in two separate things?” Stark asked. Loki’s lips curled up, happy that Stark had read between the lines, but unsure of what to make of it. He always appreciated those whose bright minds solved puzzles, and there in front of him was apparently a mortal who was getting more appealing day by day. Make no mistake, Loki was well aware that he was being punished but nobody said anything about not being allowed to enjoy himself with likeminded peers while he was here. Based off the actions of the others the past night, it seemed more likely that the inhabitants of the tower would rather he didn’t suffer too much. As much as it pained him to reveal more information about himself to someone he didn’t trust yet, the best possible move here would be to recognise the power and intelligence in the other man, invest in a sharing of knowledge, and work towards a partnership. With that, his decision was made.

“You caught that correctly,” Loki started to explain. “I have always been a gifted shapeshifter since young. There are two main ways to do this; one is to shift a glamour that lays over your physical form, this plays with perception so it would be possible to set it up such that most people see the glamour and a chosen few see past it to your real form; the second way is to shift your form in its entirety, which would give you all the characteristics of that form.”

“So what’s the difference between the two then? This entire thing is making my mind spin. It doesn’t obey the laws of conservation of energy,” Stark leaned forward on his stool, eyes bright with excitement of a new discovery.

“In actual fact, it does somewhat follow energy conservation laws. Putting on a glamour requires a small amount of magical energy but that amount is constantly expended throughout the duration that the glamour is thrown up. On the other hand, shifting completely is a great drain of magical energy but once shifted, no further energy is expended. In that sense, if one has to shift for longer or to survive emergencies, it would make more sense to shift completely to decrease the total amount of energy required.”

“Right, right. Let’s talk about materials placed on your form then, no matter what type of shifting you do, your clothes and accessories are not your form so to change that, it would have to be a glamour right?”

“Yes, unless the clothes are imbued with magical energy within them that allows me to manipulate it. But of course, assuming one shifts completely, you could always just obtain new clothes. In fact, it helps to reduce the magical traces and allows one to hide more comprehensively.”

“So…the clothes that you currently have on your form are magically imbued then? Are all your clothes magical? Have you just been wearing the same type of tunics that you can shift easily?” Stark bubbled with excitement, eager to learn about the marriage of material engineering with magical energy.

“Yes, I’ve been wearing similar tunics. Back hom- back in Asgard, I have plenty of non-magical outfits for a variety of occasions, as well as special magical ones. But seeing as I was put under house arrest, I simply brought the simplest of tunics. There are no occasions for my grander clothes here…” he trailed off rather dejectedly.

Stark paused for a moment before speaking again. “Well, we can’t be doing experiments with you in those clothes. I’m worried that the extra energy would be another variable to think about and might throw off readings depending on what experiments we do. We should see about getting you brand new non-magical clothes. Jarvis could contact a personal shopper later or something. Do you mind shifting entirely? Or have you already?”

Before Loki could reply, a woman spoke up from the doorway. “You could always funnel some of Thor’s SHIELD pay into a petty cash account for Loki. It seems like Thor doesn’t actually use that much of it. That will allow Loki to buy clothes, some other knick-knacks. And Tony, you are absolutely not going to use your personal funds in the chance that someone will dig out that information and cause a scandal.

“Pepper?!” Stark looked at the woman incredulously. “What are you doing here? Jarvis why didn’t you tell me she was coming down? Really Pep, it’s not safe.”

Loki ignored the last jibe and watched as Stark rushed to whom must be his lady and began a hushed but heated conversation. He presumed it had something to do with his presence possibly being a threat but if Stark had trusted him enough to invite him into his lab, then surely he should be fine with his lady being present. Loki may not be a true Asgardian prince but he was definitely brought up as one so he would not do his mother disservice by betraying those who had extended genuine aid or respect towards him.

“Stark, Lady Pepper,” Loki called to interrupt before the couple could get upset, he needed to be in the good books of these people if he ever wanted to do more than just survive his imprisonment. “I assure you that I mean no harm and am no threat. Stark has kindly afforded me aid when I need it and I will not dishonour our agreement. I promise you that no harm will come to you, nor anyone or anything under your protection so long as I have your continued support.

“There you go Tony, he’s a gentleman and he’s given his word. Plus, he’s been here for weeks already, done nothing that you haven’t done worse, and he’s standing in your lab and sharing information about magic with you. If you’re going to trust him, then you should also be able to trust me to evaluate danger levels and take care of myself,” Lady Pepper firmly told her partner in a no-nonsense tone.

“And you,” she turned to face Loki. “No more Lady Pepper. It’s either Virginia, Pepper, or Ms Potts. Now, I’m going to take a leap of faith and trust you so don’t make me regret it alright?”

Loki looked her directly in the eye and liked what he saw there. She was definitely fearful, as her rapid heartbeats revealed, but there was a fire of determination and strength behind her eyes that reminded Loki of his mother. He nodded in agreement. After a little more discussion, Pepper left the two men alone in the lab again. A short awkward silence fell between them before Stark broke it with a chuckle.

“She’s a feisty one isn’t she?” Stark asked him while staring slightly wistfully at the elevator doors that Pepper had exited through. “Sometimes I feel like her strength is the only thing holding me up when things get too much. If I had even half of her inner strength…”

Loki hummed to acknowledge Stark’s point. Was that why Stark had given him a chance – was he too suffering with the weight of the world on his heart? Yet, it didn’t seem like a topic that they should discuss at the moment so instead, he shifted the discussion into what Pepper had said about a petty cash account. Stark’s energy quickly picked up when they realised that they could actually use some of SHIELD’s payment to finance Loki. It seemed like Loki wasn’t the only one who loved sticking it to those who caused him trouble. 

Together, they worked out a rough plan. Clothes were a major priority as Stark required him in non-magically imbued clothes for experiments and Loki himself would feel so much better in new threads. A new identity and history to protect against scandals was another one; Stark had some underground contacts who could surreptitiously create an identity for Loki so that anyone prying into records wouldn’t raise the alarm at a supposed war criminal being funded with government money. Some more would be taken but put into an account weekly for his new identity to have a ‘salary’ as a lab assistant. In addition, the two of them tried to work out a new face and look for Loki’s new identity. Before they knew it, the day had come to a close and while the two didn’t end up getting any work done in the lab, the day was well spent with plenty of scheming. Loki couldn’t remember the last time that he had had that much simple fun.

The following days of the week were almost the same routine – Loki would awaken, head to breakfast where he would either silently listen to the newest adventures that Rogers and Thor had in their exploration of the modern world or continue to scheme with Pepper and the other men whenever she happened to join them for breakfast. Thor had been ecstatic when they had asked him whether they could use his SHIELD budget but Rogers had been somewhat disapproving, and only acquiesced when Thor had emphasised that he wasn’t using the budget anyways. After breakfast, Loki would proceed to the lab where he and Stark continued sharing the basics of science or magic as well as coming up with a more concrete plan of what experiments they would carry out.  They would often part at lunch but Loki would skip and go down to the Recreation room to catch up on his knowledge of this planet’s culture. All in all, Loki fell somewhat into a routine where he had constant interaction with others, spent a good amount of time developing a partnership, while also giving him just enough leisure time for him to enjoy without his thoughts spiralling down into depression. Of course, there were days where the last thing Loki wanted to do was to leave his bed but then someone would knock on his door, asking why he wasn’t at breakfast and he felt sufficiently trapped by societal convention that he forced himself to kick-start the day.

On one of those not so good days, it turned out to be Rogers knocking on his door to extend an invitation to Loki to join him for breakfast. Apparently, the others couldn’t make breakfast and it was once again just the two of them.

“By the way Loki,” Rogers cleared his throat and started. “I just wanted to thank you for motivating me to.. well, to leave the house and embrace my situation a little bit more. I guess I was trying to live in the past. You wake up one day suddenly 70 years ahead in the future, you keep trying to grab hold of what you remember the most you know?”

He took a steadying breath before he continued, “I just kept harping on the fact that I was all alone and nothing could live up to my nostalgia, but seeing you be brave in dealing with the hand you got has made me open my eyes to the fact that things have changed, that I can’t go back. The only thing left to do is to actually make an effort and start really living instead of just pretending to.”

Loki sighed with confusion, he hadn’t slept well and it was hard to figure out if Rogers was being genuine or trying to give him a disguised pep talk.

But Rogers continued, “I just want you to know that I really do understand how hard it is sometimes to push yourself when you’ve been burned before. But I see your effort. I see it. It’s not for naught. You’re a brave man, Loki, and you have my respect. I know you frequent the Rec room on my floor quite often, if you’d ever want to spend some time together there, just let me know.”

Loki let Rogers clap his hand on his shoulder as the words sank in. He looked up and saw a gentle smile and hopeful eyes on the other man’s face. It was a shock to hear that and while it was a gratingly saccharine sentiment, it was clearly a sincere one too. He hadn’t expected to be offered the beginnings of an…acquaintanceship, especially from Rogers, but it would be easier to keep the dark thoughts away if he had more interaction with others. Loki simply nodded, not really knowing what to say, and instead gave a small smile to Rogers as thanks as they settled down for breakfast. He was curious to see where this would lead.

On the other hand, his partnership with Stark was just as he expected, completely fun, with a small side of crazy. It also helped Loki’s mood that they started taking scans of Loki’s shape-shifting to track energy readings. It was beyond entertaining to be caught in a loop of excitement between Stark and himself. There was just something about people who were passionate about learning that appealed to Loki.

Things seemed to be going well all in all.

Almost too well.

Which is why Loki was shocked but not surprised when one day he entered the lab and found the ‘Man the Hulk Resided In’ sitting near Stark. He froze, the phantom aches of his pummelling shooting to the surface.

But of course. How could he have expected Life to give him a break.

Things were going to be interesting…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your comments. They are genuinely a joy to read!


End file.
